The Collinsport Chronicles XIX: The Salamanders
by Maryland Rose
Summary: There are temptations rising from the flames in the fireplaces. And Louella's fears find an echo there.
1. Chapter 1

Julia and Barnabas have finally made their peace with the spirit of Dave Woodard and reconciled with their nephew. In the meantine, Louella is feeling more pressured each day by doubts about her pregnancy, and Willie's insecurities. David is becomng fascinated by fire, and is being pursued by the image of a mysterious woman who frightens him. Buffy helped out Derek in a scheme to fix a horse race, and made a nice bundle out of it, but was disappointed by his lack of interest in her as a woman.

* * *

THE SALAMANDERS

Chapter 1

David looked stunned at the collection of burnt matches that his room had accumulated. Had he been doing that for so long? Burning all of them?

It was lucky that the place had not burned down. Almost a miracle.

It was that woman... the one with the red hair and soft voice.

With horror he realized who the woman was, and what she wanted.

And the only way he could keep her away was to use the stuff.

* * *

Barnabas stoked the fire absentmindedly. He wondered if there was a need to. Not for his own benefit, for sure. It made little difference to him if there was a fire on not, except for the fact that it looked pretty.

He moved to the sofa. It was there that two nights ago Zeb had been struggling against the cords that bound him while Jessica stood impassible, unable to help him in any way...

It had only been last night that he and Julia had finally made their peace... Only yesterday that once more he had lost somebody he cared for...

And he was alone again, staring at the fire.

True, Buffy was there, but... it was not the same with her as it had been with Phillip...

A cynical half-smile formed on his lips. There he was again, complaining that that Buffy was not Phillip, as he had once complained because Phillip was not Willie, and Willie was not Ben...

They were different each of them. He had to learn to accept that. He had certainly learned to accept worse.

It was having to start all over again that got him. Transitions were always hard on him. The goodbyes never got any easier...

He wondered what Buffy was doing. Maybe asleep, maybe not...

Except for when he had explained to her that he had provided for her in case Zeb killed him, he had never invited her to join him in anything. Not even in watching the fire.

He knocked at her door with uncertainty. Would she accept the invitation? She was still uneasy with him, even after he kept silent about her caper with Derek... But he had to try and start somewhere.

She accepted his invitation, even with a curious look, and sat on a chair, facing the fire, and holding the drink he offered her.

"It is getting colder and colder, isn't it?'

Buffy nodded. She hoped that he wanted to talk about more things than the weather.

"How do you feel?" he asked her.

She turned to face him "Why did you invite me down here?"

"Because I felt lonely, and I wondered if you were, too."

"I am not complaining."

"I know you don't. But still it must be difficult for you."

"I can manage."

"Don't you wish you could do something besides keep house for me? I barely appreciate it. As long as it is not unbelievably filthy, I can life with it."

Buffy said nothing to this.

"Don't be ashamed to say so. I too know what it is to be in a strange place, with no real friends, no one to talk to."

"The worst part is that they can't forget the other one, Buffy Duncan, who was murdered." she shivered. " the person I could have been if my choices had been different."

"I wish I could make things easier for you. Do you ever miss the people you left behind?"

"A bit. But you told me what happened to them... I certainly have no desire to meet Haskell, or his replacement. And Quentin's dead. And Roxanne..."

"Roxanne's changed. She is still there, and we might get together again one day, but... but I don't know how it would be like."

"She was always so...intense. She let Quentin use her. And not only because of her face. She believed the same things that Quentin did."

"Yes. She did believe, Does believe."

"You came too late to make a difference." slowly Buffy was relaxing, as she saw in Barnabas, not just her employer, not just the vampire, but the man who had met Roxanne Drew and Quentin Collins and been wounded by them. "She belonged to him, body and soul. Or rather, she belonged to the Cause."

"I realize that."

"I liked her. Him... I am not sure. He was cold. Neither Maggie nor Roxanne seemed to mind it. Maybe they had a victim mentality. Or maybe there was something in him that made it worth it... Still I wouldn't let anyone tread me that way. John Yeager taught me that much."

"You realize what Yeager's story was."

"Yes." she shrugged "Cyrus Longworth, with a experiment that went wrong."

"It was long ago."

"Yes." Buffy stretched herself. as she felt the tension drain from her. "I think that I got you to thank for one thing. I did face Yeager once. He was harassing Maggie and I made him back down. I used to be terrified of him, but that day I was fearless... And I wonder where could I have gotten that spine... that was after you fed from me, and put your mental hooks on me... If I got the courage from you, then I am indebted to you. Because I _did _make him back down."

"I would not know if it was that, but if it was, I am glad I could be of help."

It was easy to think of him as human...and why not? He's got his insides screwed up, of course. But he was a lot more human than Todd. Or Haskell..

"Do you find it easier to deal with Sheriff Brant?"

"It is hard to think that I can trust someone in a uniform." she sighed. "it is nothing personal."

"He understands that."

"He's your friend.?"

" A very good one."

"Did he ever mind...what you are?"

"A bit at first." He wondered a moment why he cared more about George's...peculiarity than George cared about his own... even with a corpse between them.

"But then Quentin did not care about it at all. As long as you served the Cause." Buffy smiled. "Maybe there is a Cause that Brant serves too." she shivered "you were right, it is cold."

Imperceptibly she slid on his direction, reclining her head on his shoulder.

"I can't warm you much." he confessed.

"It is not just cold." she answered. "It is... it is being alone."

He put his arm around her. "Feel better?" he asked.

She nodded "Yes. it makes me feel like I belong somewhere, like I am home at last."

They sat there, watching the fire, feeling less lonely, less hurt.

* * *

Tammy looked at Frank, two tables away from hers. He lifted his glass with self-mockery and gestured to her to join him.

She did. She took her own glass and walked to his table.

"In speaking terms with the rest of humanity?" Frank kidded her.

"Yes. " she agreed.

"I wish I could say the same for myself. I wasn't made for small town life. Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's tailing somebody. I couldn't come along, since I am too conspicuous." she smiled "Do you think that it is discrimination if I am never assigned to undercover work?"

"I doubt it. There are very practical reasons for you not to do it. You are just too conspicuous."

"Too bad" she took a swallow off her beer "You know about me and Barnabas?"

"What you mean, you and Barnabas? You two having an affair?"

"Nothing as simple as that. It turns out that he's my ancestor. Direct ancestor."

Frank looked at her in amazement. "You area putting me on!"

"No. I am not. I AM his direct descendant."

Frank shook his head "Now I have heard everything."

"That's why I was so insufferable lately. It is kind of hard to digest."

"With Barnabas, everything is hard to digest. the things he does, well, they have some kind of logic, but don't ask me what that logic is. Oh, he's all right for... for a hick."

"Hick?"

"Yes. He's one. All of you here are."

"You have not adjusted to living here, I see."

"The Russians are kinder to people who rub their superiors the wrong way. They shoot them or send them to Siberia. We just bury them in small towns. And now winter will come and I will be taking my life in my hands when I drive. I don't know how I can stand it."

"Frank you need yourself a woman..."

"Don't I know it? Well, you were telling me how upset you were when you found a vampire in your family tree."

"I don't care about that. I meant, it might have mattered if he was black, but... But, damn it! His family made money in the slave trade! he _was_ involved in it too. He may not have been personally involved but he was glad to have the money it brought to them. And he did not care about my ancestor, not the little half-breed that he fathered."

"Disgraceful" Frank said "But nothing that was seen as wrong in those days."

"And now he wants me to act like his long lost daughter, run up to him, throw my arms around his neck crying daddy! daddy! It makes me sick, just thinking about it. You can imagine how angry I was. Well, I finally decided not to let it bother me. But I imagine that I made myself insufferable in the meantime. I don't know how Joe puts up with me."

Frank nodded. "Forgive me, Tammy, but I can't help it. I find your predicament very funny."

"Do you know that he wanted to make it legal? Put me in his will and everything?"

"If you ever got to cashing your inheritance, all you'd get would be his debts."

"Then he tried to give me some jewelry that belonged to his mother."

"Did you take it?"

"No. There was no point to it. It was beautiful, but I could not keep from thinking how it had been paid for. And if I took family jewels, it would mean I was family."

"Was he hurt?"

"No worse than usual. He lives in a constant state of heartbreak. No. It could be worse. He can't have children of his own, now, that's why I am so important to him. Important enough to overlook the color of my skin."

Frank shook his head "I wonder what the people of DC would think if they heard us? Probably tell us to see a shrink.

"Like Julia Hoffman?" Tammy laughed.

"Yes the same one."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She would not make her previous mistake. She would keep away from Quentin. She would bide her time.

Edward was a more likely prospect. Or stay on Judith's good graces... Judith could be generous and rewarded loyalty well...

...Louella!...

.. She had a lot more choices once she put Quentin behind her...

...Louella!" Willie insisted.

She was standing alone, staring into emptiness, a slight smile on her lips, as if listening to something no one else could hear.

A shiver ran down Willie's back.

"Lou! What is the matter with you?"

She turned her head to him. "Oh, it is you." she said. "I seem to get lost in my thoughts lately."

"Nothing wrong?" he could not hide his fear when he saw her that way

"I told you that I am not an invalid!" she snapped.

"You seemed ... lost."

"So I was daydreaming... Well, I was thinking of names for the baby."

"I thought we had settled it."

"If it is a girl, I want to name her Pearl."

"Like your mother?" Willie made a face. His relationship with his mother-in-law could not be called cordial under any circumstances.

"What have you got against her?"

"She is a bitter woman."

"She has reason to be, don't you think? She was saddled with kids, because Father would not hear of birth control, and when it got too much for him, he just left to fend for ourselves."

"I am sorry. But why does she take it on me?"

"She thinks that you'll do the same thing to me."

"I won't baby. I am not your father."

They embraced. But still Louella was not convinced.

* * *

"Does it hurt?" Julia flinched when she saw the scars on Barnabas' back. That she could have been capable to use a whip so... that she experienced pleasure in doing it...

She saw the whip still lying on her desk. She took it, and buried it under the pile of papers she had in the shelves behind her... She did not want to see it... She would put it away later...

Barnabas shrugged. "Very little now."

"I didn't realize I was hitting so hard." Julia said lamely.

"Julia, don't lie to yourself. You wanted me to hurt, didn't you?"

"Yes." she acknowledged.

"You had to do it. It had to be done. It had to come out into the open. You spend too long avoiding it, acting as if it had never happened. I couldn't go on seeing you like that. It hurt too much to know what I had done to you."

Instinctively Julia bent down and kissed the lacerated back. "You did this for me." she said. "For me."

"It was the least I could do. If I am anything at all today, it is thanks to you."

"You gave me much., too. You don't know it, but you did."

"Well," Barnabas was a bit embarrassed. "before we start a mutual admiration society, will you finish fixing me up so that I can get dressed again? If Kenneth finds us like this..."

"He's not going to be upset because one of my patients is half-dressed."

"But you don't usually kiss your patients. Please, Julia."

As quickly as she could, she finished applying pain killer to Barnabas' back, and then allowed him to get dressed again.

"You area free now, Julia, do you realize that?"

Julia nodded, tears forming in her eyes.

Barnabas sighed. He knew that Julia would hit rough spots, again and again, and they would hurt more because she would believe that they would not come again. But there would be less and less of them with time, and if he could tide her over.

"I miss him." Barnabas admitted " Julia, do you realize that I can say that? That, and nothing else?"

Julia nodded "I feel the same way myself."

"After those years of eating yourself alive you deserve this, Julia. I know how hard it was for you, how bad I made it for you and Willie. But it was rough for me too."

"I knew that. That's why I did not give up on you. I understood what you were going through, and why you did what you did... and later I began to demand that you became a better person. That you be wroth the effort I was putting into you. That you had to be worth it."

"Well, I am glad that I was not a waste of your time and effort."

"You never were."

Barnabas looked at her with tenderness. She had once loved him. Traces of it remained in her. Why couldn't he have returned her love? She was an attractive, desirable woman. If he had not been so busy hoping for the impossible, he would have seen it. She deserved to be loved.

"Do you remember him?'

"Of course I do"

"Can you tell me about him?... If it is not too much hurt for you."

"It doesn't hurt anymore. As I told you, he was my classmate at Medical School. I realize now that he was gay, but I never suspected it... Or I suspected it, but chose to ignore it... Or I knew that he was not like the others, but could not give it a name... We had a good relationship. He never thought of me as a sex object as the other students, or even the professors. Of course." she laughed "he might have seen some of the other students as sex objects... Maybe that's why he did not go into psychiatry. We had this psychiatry teacher who was always making snide remarks about 'fags' and how sick sick, sick, they were. That must have soured him on psychiatry. So he became a G.P., instead."

"Well, he was good at it."

"Yes, but if he had stuck to psychiatry, he might have made a name for himself."

"I don't think that he regretted it too much. He cared more about his patients than for theory, or getting articles published."

"Yes. He was that way. I guess we stuck together because we were the oddballs. I was a bit in love with him. I had this fantasy of marrying him and opening a clinic together... Like Zeb and Jessica."

"He was your first love?"

"No. There was another... never mind. You never knew him."

* * *

Winter always came too soon. And the snow piled up so high...

They said that the last winter had been mild. Frank shuddered at the thought of a non-mild winter. He still did not know how he had survived in those conditions.

And now he had to learn to do it all over again...

Tammy was right. He needed a woman. But who? Angelique belonged to the past. And while Megan was exciting, she was not someone you could get serious about.

It was strange, wasn't it? To find himself attracted to Megan? After all he had put him through...

But she was the type of woman you did not expect to find in a small town like this. Strong, sophisticated, fun. There was something very metropolitan about her. She was both streetwise and elegant. Life with her would not be dull...

... He knew what life with her would mean. Ask Derek Pearce...

But the way he felt now, it didn't matter much. Compared to the way he was leading his life now...

He added another log to the fire. Had to keep the fire going, or he'd freeze to death. It was positively immoral, the temperatures in this state...

* * *

"Zeb, do you have the Rogers file?"

Zeb looked up. Why should I have it? He's _your_ patient."

"I don't have it."

"Maybe you put it somewhere else. If you had at top of the line filing system like mine..."

She made as if to hit him with a file folder "Zeb King, you are impossible!"

A knock at the door interrupted them.

It was Willie, looking very, very worried.

"Well, Mr. Loomis" Jessica was cordial "anything I can do to help?"

"Huh, yes." Willie looked down "I have this problem. It is a bit difficult to explain."

Jessica nodded with understanding. "It is all right, Mr. Loomis; There is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Ashamed?"

"Once we treat you, you should have no problems. But you should bring in your wife for testing."

"Testing?" Willie was not sure what she meant.

"Darling" Zeb said "I don't think that Mr. Loomis has VD."

"VD? Me?" Willie shouted "are you crazy? And with a baby on the way?"

"That's the usual reason why people come ask for my help."

"No, it is completely different. I has to do with your...disappearance. "he hesitated slightly "It was Barnabas who did it, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Jessica admitted "But I was in no danger. I was a personal matter and it was solved to everyone's satisfaction."

"What was it?" Willie asked anxiously.

Jessica shook her head. "I am not at liberty to discuss it. But you may ask Mr. Collins about it."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Barnabas let Alma detain him for a while. She loved to talk, and he certainly did enjoy listening to her.

"I imagine that you like having David for the holidays. It is nice when the family gets together."

"It is nice. And we have invited Hallie Stokes, too. The Professor's niece."

"We got a couple of cousins coming to see us. I imagine that it is our having an hotel that makes us so attractive. If they think that they are going to get free room and board because I won't dare charge them, they will be in for a surprise."

"You'll charge them?

"How do you expect me to make a living otherwise?"

Barnabas smiled faintly "I am surprised that you don't charge me for what I take from you."

"Oh, you pay back in many ways. You are not freeloader."

Missy began to rub against Alma's leg, purring.

"How are your cats coming?" Alma asked, lifting Missy in her arms.

"They are good mousers. And they are fun to have around" he petted Missy "I am glad that you fixed her."

"After the lecture you gave us, what else could we do? That was a year ago...Oh, Lordy, where does all that time go?"

"Time passes fast. And Elsa is growing into a young lady."

"A young lady, ha! I'll believe it when I see it. She's too special for that. I don't know after whom does this child take." Alma could not disguise her pride on her bright daughter.

"Well, she... reminds me of someone I once knew. My sister Sarah.."

"Yes. the one who died while still a child...I am sorry. I does make you sad to talk about it?"

'Not anymore."

"I am worried about Elsa, though. She's been hanging around Davenport. She says that she's hunting U.F.O.s., but I am worried that he will get her to swim in freezing water."

"I will talk to Davenport about discouraging her."

Alma nodded "Are you inviting anyone else for the holidays?"

"Remember Oriana Falchi?"

"The reporter? Sure I do. She's got her eye on you, that one. But since Iris left you, there is no reason why you two can't..."

'"Alma, sometimes you talk too much."

* * *

...Get yourself a woman...

Sensible advice. He had not acted on it, though. Apart from that brief fling with Megan, he had been celibate since Angelique and him had parted. As if it was too much bother...

It was not even missing Angelique. It had been an interesting exercise in self-deception for both of them. No more.

And why not call on Megan? Just because she was promiscuous? Because she was a vampire? Why had he not called her back?

Yet Megan could be fun.

He dialed the office.

"Haskell Investigations" Tammy said at the other end of the line.

"Tammy, this is Frank. Remember the advice you gave me? I am acting on it."

"You asking me for a date?"

"Not you. I am trying to arrange one with Megan."

"And you call me for that?"

"I could not get her."

"Because it is daytime... Oh, well... I will tell her that you called."

* * *

David shivered.

He was coming home for Christmas, going back to see everyone.

And if Barnabas were to find out that he was taking pills again...

He knew what that would do to Barnabas, to Julia, to Aunt Liz, who was paying for his studies.

But he had to. If he stopped he would have those dreams again.

He was being careful with the pills. Just the bare minimum to keep _her_ away. It did not show on his grades. Maybe he was a bit sleepier, a bit less able to concentrate...

But he could still function, and that was all that mattered. He was not on some doorstep shooting up with dirty needles...

But he would never be able to explain it to Barnabas. Dope was dope and he was supposed to keep away from it.

But Barnabas had not seen _her_. If he knew what she was like, he'd shoot up, too.

* * *

"Willie wants to know what the true story is behind Jessica's disappearance" George said, swinging his leg over his desk "and her subsequent reappearance. He knows it was you, but nothing else."

"I imagine he would know. He recognizes my M.O. " Barnabas sighed. "But he did not come to me. I guess he thought that I had gone berserk."

"I tried to reassure him. But it is better if you go and talk, and explain... He also will want to know what happened to your face."

Barnabas touched it "I am glad that he cannot see what Julia did to my back... Well, my face is almost back to normal" he laughed "I am glad that no one else demanded accounts of me. It is hard on parts of my body."

"Oh," George could not resist the next comment. "I know what part Dave would have wanted."

"Yes." Barnabas shuddered "He did say that. And that he had made me fall in love with him. he said that, even if he could not touch my body, I was still his boy, as much as you were."

"It was a psychological thing with him, as much as a physical one... But you are too old for what he liked. Even if attractive and a virgin."

"I am no virgin." Barnabas said.

"Yes. He did tell me about... Petofi." he paused "It must have been horrible."

"It was."

"I could not take you like that. I'd rather give you up. I am in the same spot Julia was years ago. But at least she could hope. I know that it is hopeless. You just don't swing both ways."

"I am sorry about that."

George laughed. "I thought I'd never hear it. An apology for strict heterosexuality.." Then he became serious again..."I do worry about Willie, the way he was acting up."

"He's' being jittery because he is a first time father. He probably has morning sickness and back pains, too."

"That's something I will never know about." George said wistfully "nor you."

"I have Tammy. But it is not the same thing. All it does is make both of us uncomfortable... There are too many slave ships in the family history..."

"You seem to have hit a streak of bad luck.."

"Well, it will change. And I'd better have a talk with Willie, and tell him what was really happening... Say, I heard that Iris wrote to several people, not to me. Do you know anything about her?"

"She says she's staying where she is, until she straightens up the affairs of Violet. Isn't it odd, those two? They area sisters, and yet Iris is always competent and able to take care of herself, while Violet can't just straighten herself out. Just making one bad choice after another. All the good senses seems to have been monopolized by Iris.."

"I wish Iris was back. I miss her."

* * *

She was soft to the touch, she was beautiful...

Frank kissed Megan. It had not been like that for a long time. He hadn't had is so good for a while... He caressed her hair and let his hands linger on her.

"I'll have to go." Megan said.

"Why? So soon?"

"As I explained it to you before, I am a working girl. I have an agency to run." she touched the sore spot on his throat. "the bleeding is stopped now."

He nodded "Yes." he said unconcerned "Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?"

"Very sure" She took out her purse "Will you help me arrange my hair? I can't use a mirror, you know."

"You look wonderful, as always."

Megan kept her calm "Wonderful-disheveled or wonderful-well groomed?"

Chastised Frank answered "Comb it more to the right."

"This way?"

"Yes." he gulped "Megan, when will I see you again?"

* * *

Louella had difficulty moving among the aisles. And she was distracted.

Willie's heart contracted. She was so far, far away at times...

"Where are you, Lou? Who are you dreaming about? Barnabas?

There were no fang marks in her. He had made certain of that.

But there had been, once, when she was not yet pregnant, and he knew from his own experience for how long Barnabas could retain his influence after one bite. He would not jeopardize the child before it was born, but he meant to claim it,. Now that Jessica had proven unsatisfactory...

... But they had denied it. Told him to talk to Barnabas about it... they had told him that Louella's symptoms were to be expected in a first-time mother., even the daydreaming...

But her face, by the window, that was no daydream. She was waiting, listening to somebody...

"Honey!" Louella lifted the pillows "do you like these?"

"Huh?"

"I said if you liked these."

"The pillows?"

"Yes. The pillows. You are not paying attention" she laughed, a bit forced "and then you call me absent-minded."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"David!" Barnabas said joyfully "you look wonderful!"

"No, I don't" David said "I think that I am coming down with something. Except that, I am fine."

"You take good care of yourself, I hope." Barnabas said while carrying David's bag.

"Yes. I do." David lied. With luck, and the flu story, Barnabas would not catch on to his using drugs, then maybe everything would be all right...

"You finished with your finals?"

"Yes. That was tough. Three tests on the same day, one after the other. I don't know how I managed to survive them. I thought that I'd end in the hospital."

"Well, now you are going to rest. You are going to have a warm bath, a nice hot meal, and then, if you want to, you can go straight to bed. Tomorrow morning Vicky will want to see you. She still can't believe that you are going to college. She wants to know if you are giving your teachers the same grief you used to give your governesses."

David laughed "Didn't you tell her that I had reformed?"

"She'll believe it when she sees it."

"I will let he have a copy of my grades."

"Of course, I already told you that I have new housekeeper. Her name is Buffy Harrington. She might come on a bit strong at you. If she does, please ignore her. She's been doing a lot of it, and I am trying to talk her out of it."

"She's the one you found in Parallel Time?"

"Yes. I found her there."

"You came with a kid, too, didn't you?"

"Yes." Barnabas' face became thoughtful "Edmund. Carolyn adopted him. Roger seems to have been quite taken with him."

"My father, yeah." David said bitterly "maybe now he'll learn to be a proper father."

"David..."

"He never liked me. He believed that I was Burke's son, for a while. And then he's got this crazy idea that Laura had had a fling with Woodard, and that's why my name was David.. "

"Woodard could not have been your father. And neither was Burke. You are Roger's son. I have seen plenty of your ancestors, and you take after them. You are a Collins."

"Well, considering what the family is like I do not know if to be relieved or worried. They are now in Europe, aren't they?"

"Yes. Carolyn, Roger, Edmund, and Quentin. Edmund..." now it was Barnabas who sounded hurt "They said that it was for the best, that he could never be happy with me. But I still wonder..."

"I feel jealous of the kid" David confessed "I would not mind it so much if father had ever cared about me, but he never did."

"I think that he does care. Have you written to him?"

David shrugged "It is too late for that, don't you think?"

* * *

How many Christmas cards? Louella couldn't believe that there were so many of them. Did she really know that many people?

Well, since it was one of the few things that she could do without argument from Willie, why not do it?...just because of her swelling belly...

"It is not a swelling" she told herself "it is a baby."

But she could not help thinking of the change in Willie's, and of her mother's fate.

It could easily happen to her. Willie had tried to reassure her that it would be only two children, and that he was ready and willing to be a father.

Yet his own insecurity came through. He always felt inadequate one way or another. He could probably feel inadequate as a father, and what would he do, then?

Nervously, she took out the locket and began wishing herself to be Beth Chavez again.

* * *

The fire burned brightly in the fireplace. Frank looked at it longingly... he loved so much to watch it.

Funny, he hadn't cared that much about fireplaces in DC. But then it was never this cold, down there. And there was so much more to do.

He felt drowsiness watching the flames leap up, brightly red... beautiful, real beautiful.

"Poor Frank, all alone."

Somebody said anything? He turned.

No one was there.

"Nobody loves you now. And that isn't right. You should have someone."

But he and Megan... they would get together.

"You can do better than Megan or Angelique."

He stared. The voice seemed to come from the flames.

"There is a woman for you, just for you."

"Who are you?"

"Here I am."

She was there, indeed. Naked, covered only by her long hair.

"I love you, Frank." she smiled and extended her arms "come to me."

He got up from his seat, walked towards her...

He opened is eyes, looked around. He had fallen asleep in front of the fire.

Dreaming of beautiful naked girls that came out of the fire.

"It wasn't a dream, love."

* * *

"You back, Reverend?" Megan asked mockingly "Be careful. I've got a reputation, and if you keep coming, it will rub on you."

Anselm laughed at this "I have been seen with more notorious characters than you."

She sobered "If you come for news of Sandy, they are both good and bad."

"Good and bad?"

"She is now living with Chris Jennings. For you, that is bad news. For her, it is good."

"Good? Having abandoned her two children? She who always was a devoted mother..."

"A dutiful one, which is not the same thing. She did her duty for many years, expecting a reward. When it didn't come, when she was kicked in the teeth, she went to the other extreme."

"But to forget her children like that..."

"When Herbert made clear to her that he would get custody of them in any case, that decided her."

"But how could he deny her custody?'

"As a werewolf."

"But he could not get that into court."

"She believed he could, and that is enough. And anyway, he could always get a sympathetic judge who'd want to protect the children. Not call her a werewolf. Just subject to violent swings of temper..."

Anselm thought about that."

"Still, to walk away from her family like that."

"It happened, Reverend. There is nothing we can do about it."

"You helped bring this about." he said accusingly "you said that you would help me, but didn't. You played me for a fool.."

"It was your failure, Reverend. You should have made Herbert be less of a jerk. I kept my end. The worst did not happen. And remember Reverend, that the worst would have meant at least a corpse. Never forget that Sandy is a werewolf that is still learning control. "

Anselm grumbled. "Still, you could have arranged things differently."

"And Herbert should have been a nicer human being, too. I never dealt with him, Reverend, you did, and you are not going to blame your failure on me."

* * *

"Buffy, this is my cousin David." Barnabas introduced them. "David will be staying here for the holidays."

"Pleased to meet you." Buffy said, girlishly "you come from the University."

"My first semester?"

"You must be very bright"

David laughed "you must have been listening to Barnabas. But he exaggerates a lot."

"Oh, no. I think that he's right about you."

Barnabas sighed. He had to give Buffy another talk about her way of coming to every male around.

"I hope you got his room ready. He's tired and he might be coming down with the flu."

"I'll got check."

She went up the stairs, wriggling her hips.

"Be patient with her, David" Barnabas said "Well, do you like the place? It's changed a bit since you were here last."

David looked around. "You have taken Josette's portrait down?"

"I moved it two rooms down the hall. I thought it best if it wasn't here so prominently. After what happened with Vicky..." he explained about it.

"I can see your point. Too many memories, both good or bad with that portrait."

"Too many... I still remember when I came back in 1967. It was strange to hear you talk of her as you did... For me, she was the woman I loved, an for you it was a guardian spirit."

"She protected me."

"I know she did. And so did Sarah. She also tried to warn you about me... They are not coming back, either of them..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. They are gone. What they had to do, the did, and their time here was done...and whether or not we still wanted them to stay could not change it.' he sighed, and for a few moments was silent.

Then he recovered himself "Someone else is coming" he told David. Remember Hallie Stokes, the professor's niece?"

"She is coming too?"

"I thought that she must be lonely now that Eliot is dead."

"They died in a car accident, didn't they?"

"Yes. Just a car accident."

"In Colombia, wasn't it?"

"Yes, They were on a dig that had a lot of promise, according to Eliot."

"Could it have been guerrillas?"

"It does not sound like them... It is more likely an accident due to the state of the roads."

"You know, even after they married, I had trouble thinking of her as Mrs. Stokes. To me, she was always Mrs. Johnson."

"That's how you knew her for the longest time. Does not surprise me."

"How about Harry? How did he take the news?"

"He's been saddened, of course."

"How he's doing?"

"He seems to be doing all right. Straightened up, married, and is determined never to set foot in Collinsport again. I can see his point..."

"Yes, this is too eventful a place.. Say, Barnabas, does Hallie know what... what you are?"

"I think that Eliot must have told her. I will play it by ear."

"Well, if not, I will give her a very complete explanation, and hope she does not freak out."

Barnabas hugged David. "You _do_ have grown." he said fondly.

"I hope so." David smiled widely "I know I ;put you through a lot. I am sorry for it. I am sorry for the things I said to you, too."

"Well, I did give you a very bad time, too."

"You didn't"

"I mean, back in 1967."

"But that was so long ago..."

Yes, it was. Hard as sit was for him to believe, he was now free of it. He needed not torment himself anymore about it. No, the past was gone and would not come back. Only the future remained.

What would the future bring? It had been such a long time that he had been able to wonder about it without yearning or fear. Just curiosity. And hope.

It was strange, to feel free.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Well, how's the little mother?" Phillip asked cheerfully.

Something very cold bit Louella with those words. She wanted to scream that she was not a "little mother" She was a grown woman. Nobody should baby-talk her.

But she only smiled and pointed at her belly "As you can see, I am growing"

"Vicky and I have decided to start a family ourselves as son as we get more settled."

* * *

Frank was there, sitting at the door of her office.

"What are you doing here?" Megan asked him.

"I had to talk to you."

She looked at Chris. "Don't you know how to throw out pests?"

"I did not know that he was one."

"All right." Megan stared at Frank, hard. "come into my office and we'll talk."

Frank followed her and sat down while she closed the door.

"Why don't you want to see me? Why don't you answer my phone calls?" he asked plaintively.

She pursed her lips "I thought that it was obvious."

"But I want to see you again. I want to be with you."

"It can't be."

"Why not? We did it once. We can do it again."

"Because you know what might happen."

"I don't care what happens."

"I do. I don't want to be saddled with the responsibility."

"Megan... it is not just going to bed with you. It is you that I want. You are fun to be with, you are smart, you know what's happening out there, you have a sense of humor..."

Megan looked at him with compassion. "Are you in love with me?"

"Yes. I am."

She shook her head. "Poor, poor Frank. Living here has finally gotten to you, I see."

"It has not!"

"Do you know how many proposals like you I get a month? But they are kids, many of them getting laid for the first time. Older men know better."

Frank paled at her words.

"You see? you can't face up to the fact that I go to bed with a different man every night."

He looked down, silent for a few moments "With me it was special" he finally said.

"Sure, it was special for you. For me it wasn't. Frank, think of me as a hooker. I liked you. I had fun with you, but not enough to make me change my ways. have you thought what being my permanent lover means? Suppose I stop going to others and stay with you. Do you what would happen in less than a month?"

"I don't care."

"You should. In six months you'd care. In one year, you'd hate me. Maybe sooner. I wouldn't stop going out for men, and you'd be going out for women. Oh, we could still make love, but it would not be the same, as I would not be biting anymore. And that's where the spice is, isn't it?"

"I love you." Frank insisted. "It would make no difference to me."

Megan looked up, as if asking for guidance. Why did she always have this problem? No matter how hard and how often she explained it, there was always someone who fell in love with her, complicating her life to no end. But one would think that Frank knew better than that..

"Frank, I don't love you. I will never love you. And if you keep pestering me I'll have you thrown in jail for disturbing the peace. Brant owes me a few favors. And if that doesn't work, I'll have Chris work you over. If that's not enough, I'll have Barnabas bite some sense into you. And if that still is not enough, I will set Angelique on you.."

"Megan..."

"The best advice I can give you is to talk to Dr. Hoffman to figure out who to get over it."

* * *

Willie felt ashamed of himself. Why couldn't he have asked Barnabas earlier what was going on? If he had asked, he'd have worried less, worried Louella less, and hurt Barnabas less...

"Willie, if you ever think that I am losing it, the person to see is Megan. She has taken it upon herself to check me when I do, as she says, "freak out". When I lose my bearings, I am likely to end up confined to my coffin, with a cross over my heart, and Megan towering over me, telling me what an idiot I am."

"Like when Chris broke your shoulder bone?"

"That was the last time she had to do it. I came close to losing it after Carolyn took Edmund, but I guess the lectures took as all I did was break furniture. Probably was an idiot again, but I did not have to listen to her saying so."

"And now this business is over."

"Yes. I got off easy with a pistol whipping"

Willie looked down. Barnabas saw his embarrassment and understood it.

"Don't hate yourself, Willie."

"What?"

"For thinking that I had gone over the edge. You knew how bad it could get when I did it in the past, and were concerned. And as a first time father, your emotions are taking a beating."

"I didn't want... I didn't want to be the next one to hurt you. I mean, you got railroaded by Sabrina, Iris left you., you lost that Roxanne there, then you lost Edmund. And then my suspicions did not make it any easier for you."

"Well, it is not as if I hade not deserved it from my actions in the past."

"I feel like an ass."

"Welcome to the club. I take that Louella is acting strangely too."

"Yes."

"Well, expectant mothers do have these mood swings. It is perfectly normal.":

"Yeah, I know." Willie nodded "I have to be patient with her, that's all."

Barnabas felt great tenderness for Willie. Willie had fouled up again. Willie was at his most lovable when he did that. He wanted to pick him up and hug him...

He checked himself. Willie was an adult now, not a teddy bear.

"So Woodard won't come back?'

"No. He did get all he wanted, and there was nothing to hold him back."

"So the whole thing is over now." Willie breathed deeply "I am glad for you that it is over. That you don't owe anything anymore for what happened in 1967."

Barnabas sighed "It is not that simple."

"It is. Put it behind you, now."

* * *

David could not understand who Buffy could get into those designer jeans of hers. He considered asking her the question, but thought better of it. I he did, one question would lead to another, and he'd have to field her passes. Barnabas had already warned him about her.

He was home again. He stretched himself. It felt good to be home. He could see the snow falling softly on the ground and felt good knowing that he would not have to go out.

He felt guilty about not telling Barnabas about the pills, but he had to do it that way. If Barnabas knew the reason for it, he would insist that he see Julia and stay in Collinsport for a lengthy treatment. And he did not want that. He did not want to lose the next semester.

Anyway, it was now as if he was into real hard stuff.

* * *

Willie had gone away with the truck.

And she was alone. Alone to be afraid and to worry. To remember how pregnancy after pregnancy had worn out he mother. How his father had not believed in birth control...

She realized how much Willie reminded her of her father...

Her hand closed on the locket. There should be a way out of it. A way to escape her mother's fate.

She opened and closed the locket, trying to call on Beth Chavez from inside herself. She closed her eyes and tried to think that there was escape there. Tried to imagine Judith, and Charity, and Jenny, and Edward, and Jamison...

She closed her hand on the locket real hard. Escape...escape... but where? And what about her child? How could she stop it from growing?

There should be a way out...

In spite of the fire Louella felt cold. Cold was to be expected in her condition. As was nausea, gaining weight, becoming a shapeless lump...

The locket had no power, she realized with a shock. She could dream of being Beth Chavez again, butt she could not bring it about. And the... the thing inside her would keep on growing.

Then she would have the kid, and Willie would run away, because he was not cut out to be the father...

"There is a way out, Louella"

She looked around. Had she imagined it? Or had someone talked to her?

"The locket will not help you, but I can."

No. She had not imagined it. And the voice seemed to come from the fireplace.

"It is real, not your imagination. Watch the flames."

A lone tongue of fire extended towards her, escaping the fireplace.

Then a man (or was it a woman?) stood in front of her.

"I can help you, Louella" the man said.

"How? How can you?"

"I can make tings all right between your and Willie. I can make the kid go away."

Get rid of it? No, it would be wrong...

"You won't be sick anymore. And Willie will never abandon you."

He moved towards her. Inwardly she protested. It was wrong to do what he said, yet... yet it would mean no more nausea, no more weakness, no kids wearing her down...

"Let me have this child, Louella."

"Why?"

"We want it. We need it."

She shook her head, scared.

"Think of it, Louella. Think of the way it used to be."

No... it was wrong. "You can't have it." she said.

Then she awoke, wondering if there had really been a man of fire in her living room.

"Can we have the child, Louella?" something whispered behind her.

* * *

There was a car in the driveway. One that he had never seen before.

"Buffy?" he asked, coming into the hall "we got visitors."

But it was not Buffy who greeted him, but Oriana, still carrying her cameras.

"Is that your car?" he asked.

"Yes. Like it? I am coming up in the world."

Barnabas smiled "I see that you have."

"But I haven't forgotten old friends. Specially you." she became serious. "I was worried that you might not come back from.. from where they sent you."

"I came back in one piece."

"Sheriff Brant. He did it, and said it was my fault. But it was he who..."

"It is all right."

"You don't think it was my fault?" There was yearning in her now. "You don't believe that I set you up to get a story?"

"I set myself up. I do have this... this self-destructive streak. But don't be too hard on poor George. He had to come along to make sure that Sabrina did not get rid of me permanently."

"Would she, really?"

"She might. Well, that is over. What brings you here?"

"You still owe me that interview with the shaman, Old Munsungan, or have you forgotten?'

"No, I haven't" Barnabas wondered why he had promised that at all. He should not have. He did not have that much influence with the shaman, for that.

"Well, are you going to deliver or not?"

"I am going to try. In the meantime, make yourself at home."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It had been an odd dream, Louella decided. A man of fire in her living room...

Yet why couldn't she get that dream out of her mind? Why did she keep looking at the flames, expecting somehow to see him again?

To see him, to hear him ask for her baby...

If it was not a dream. If he could take the baby away...

But it was a dream. Anybody made of fire could not have stood where the man had stood without burning something.

"But it was not a dream, Louella. I was here. And I will be back"

* * *

Another night with nothing to do. Frank swirled his glass. Nothing to do but watch the fire and dream of pretty naked girls who were crazy about him.

Better than the reality... better than knowing that Megan did not want him, would never want him.

Only in his dreams could he hope for something like that happening. Not even in DC, with all those fancy women attracted to anybody with a modicum of power had he been able to have someone as lovely.

The flames leaped up. For a second he thought that the lengthening tongue of fire was hair. Her hair...

Red hair, the color of flame.

Maybe it was a sprite... No, sprites were from water. From fire, they were salamanders.

Why not salamanders? With all the other stuff that already went in town...

"You are right, love. I come from the fire."

He wasn't too surprised to see her facing him.

"Are you a salamander?' he asked with more curiosity than fear.

"Fire is my element." she parted her hair, so that her naked body was exposed to him.

"If...If I make love to you, will I burn?"

"You will not, love. Come to me."

He got up from his seat, hoping that this time he would not wake up when he touched her.

"You do want me?"

"I want you."

He held her, kissed her deeply.

And she was gone...

Shaken, he returned to his seat. This time he hadn't dreamed it, had he?

Dust danced in the ray of light thrown by the reading lamp, and for a second it held the color of her hair, the gleam of her eyes...

* * *

David looked around. No one here. It was daytime and Buffy had gone shopping. Oriana was also gone, with her cameras, hunting for a story that looked promising.

Still, he couldn't help feeling that somebody was watching him as he was about to dose himself.

"Dose himself" He almost laughed. Not so long ago he could have called it "shooting up". Of course, it was a different drug this time, a milder one, that allowed him to get through classes and function normally.

Still, he had been increasing the dosages. Very little. But he knew that it was a downward slide.

So he would have to take the cold turkey. Pass it off as a bad case of the flu. But better wait until he got back to college for that. In the meantime he would increase the dosage very gradually.

He had enough supplies with him to last through the holidays.

He felt a pang. How many times in the past had he stayed at this house, figuring how much stuff he had, and shooting up when Barnabas wasn't looking?

And now, when Barnabas believed that he was cured, he was back to this.

Barnabas didn't deserve to be lied to this way. But what other choice did he have?

Once a junkie, always a junkie, he thought bitterly.

* * *

Megan turned on the bed. "Thanks, that was good."

Barnabas smiled and began dressing "Don't exaggerate. I know that I have a lot to learn as a lover."

She shook her head. "You know what I mean. Why I need to do this with you from time to time. The same reason you need it. We need to get away from the awareness of the blood in our partners, and the sly glances they throw towards our mouths.. This is as close as normality as we get."

He nodded accepting it. "Yes. we do need it. What will you do for blood? Go to George?"

"You know that? Yes, I have been biting him regularly, and helping him cover up the fact that he does not pick up women... how did you find out?"

"I know that he's in love with me."

"You take it more calmly than I thought."

"Well, it is a long story." he told her of it. All of it. She listened to it politely and then snorted.

"You got the brain of a flea... Have you told this to anyone else?

"Just Willie."

"Good. Sit. Down. And. Listen."

He did. And she started teaching him the facts of life.

"This is not something to be shared. With anyone. You may think that because Woodard forgave you, you are home free. Well, for one thing, there is a record of Patterson finding his death "suspicious" Do you want that investigation to be reopened? There is no statute of limitations on murder. Not for you, not for Julia. So this is not the stuff of confidences. It is the stuff of never ever, think about it."

"I realize that."

"I grant you, you did one smart think, you kept Maggie in the loop. She knew what the problem was and that you were handling it. In a weird way, true, but you had not gone unpredictable. What Maggie fears most if your going unpredictable. Have you wondered with that business of the shopping center why I did not confine you to the coffin and lectured you? And why I did not interfere with Sabrina?"

"Because I was not out of control, only mimicking it..."

She shook her head "Barnabas... Barnabas.. Barnabas... I did it because I wanted Sabrina to scare you. I wanted you to realize that things had changed. You trashed out the 1967 episode with Maggie. In was very emotionally draining, and in the end very emotionally satisfying. And Maggie lost her power over you.. She got scared, real scared. If you went unpredictable she could not stop you.."

"But Maggie..."

"Barnabas, remember when you murdered Woodard. Remember what you felt when you realized that he knew that you were and was going to expose you. No, do not give me an explanation, recapture the feeling."

"Why?

"Because, dear Barnabas, that's exactly how Maggie felt about you when you seemed out of control with the shopping center. You become unpredictable again, and Maggie _will_ have you killed.. My locking you into the coffin and lecturing you may not be enough to satisfy her. Think about it."

Barnabas was silent for a few moments.

"She is not sweet Maggie anymore . She is one of the deadliest things in the world. An ambitious politician. Avoid crossing her at all costs."

Barnabas nodded.

"Sometimes I wonder how you managed to live this long."

"How many times have you said that to me."

"Not enough, given the way you behave."

"Yes." he admitted it. "I admire you. The way you handle yourself. I am a champion blunderer. I there is an easy way and a hard way to do something, I usually choose one that is ever harder, while you always have things under control."

"Not always." She sighed and Barnabas knew what she meant.

"Phillip marrying Vicky got to you?"

"Yes. It did. I still care for him, in a way. I know that it is best... yet.."

"Yet it hurts."

"It does" she was silent for some moments "how good is Vicky at handling money?"

"I think she does it quite well."

"She'd better. Phillip has no talent there. If I hadn't been in charge of the finances, the shop would have gone under long before you came in with the Naga box... "

"It think that they will do all right."

"Maybe, but if I was you, I'd be prepared to support them one of these days."

It was a bitchy remark, but he let it pass. She needed to get it out of her system. They both needed each other, as they were the only ones they could be wholly comfortable with. With others there was always a strain, even if it was a small one, and some nervous glances towards the mouth. Most of the time it did not matter, but eventually it did, so they got together.

Then Megan had been the first one he had made love to, in his state. If it had not been for her, he might still be suffering from psychosomatic impotence, something that helped worsen his depression when he was in the dumps...

They went downstairs and he handed her a glass of brandy. That was something he was grateful too, her teaching him that he could take in alcohol and enjoy it.

"Where are your guests by the way?" She asked.

"Oriana is chasing a story and pestering Davenport. Buffy and David went to the movies."

"You did not want them to find me here?'

"Oriana and I... I mean, she's interested in me, and I... I think we could have something. I would not want her to misinterpret what we have, you and I."

The next morning Buffy was stoking the fire. It burnt well, warming the room. She wondered if it was safe..

This place was just one big giant firetrap. Sure, sure, it had survived a long time without getting burned, but that luck would not hold forever.

Maybe it was time that she looked for another job and home. Sure, any other place that she could live in would cost her, but she could make more money at other jobs.

But who would take care of Barnabas? Who would keep his house clean? Who would be there to keep him company when he got the blues?

And even if other jobs paid better, she wouldn't find the freedom to set her own schedule and come and go as she pleased. She had been a waitress before, and did not want to go back to it.

As for going to another town... somehow the idea scared her.

Not a friend, not even an acquaintance there. Here, at least, she had Barnabas. And neither Phillip, Vicky, or Willie, or Louella, behaved as if she was Buffy Duncan.. Even if she still was afraid of Phillip.

The fire leaded out.

"But no man wants you."

"Huh?" Buffy turned around. For a moment she had thought...

The fire kept burning brightly

It was true, she thought. She didn't expect to be married, ever. But not even a lover. Not even a one-night-stand. She had gotten herself these designer pants, and only managed to look ridiculous.

So she must give up?

"You don't have to."

She shook her head. No, she didn't have to. But was there a way out?

"There is a man waiting, just for you."

She laughed mirthlessly. There she was, repeating the same clichés she had heard as a girl.

She was not a girl anymore. Time was running out of her. If there was a man waiting for her, it would be a creep like Yeager.

"It doesn't have to be that way"

Could she stop herself from thinking those dumb thoughts? She had to dwell on the positive. She had a place to stay. She lacked nothing. She was working for someone who treated her like a human being and a friend. She had more respect from Barnabas than from any other man he had known before.

Why couldn't she be content with that?

"Because it is love you want."

She had looked for love and not found it. Losers and creeps. That was all she could attract.

"But there is the right man for you."

The right man. Could she ever stop dreaming?

In the fireplace, the flames lengthened.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Do you love me, Frank Torrance?"

She stood there, so close, yet still keeping her distance, her skin gleaming like burnished copper.

"I love you" Frank moved one step closer "Please, let me touch you. Don't go away this time."

"I will stay. On one condition."

"Anything you want!"

"There is something that I need. You are going to help me get it."

"What is it?"

"I cannot tell you yet. But do you promise to help me, and do as I ask?"

"I promise!"

She moved closer to him. He could touch her now.

He kissed her. She felt warm, almost hot... There seemed to be no substance to her flesh... for a moment it was as if his arm could go through her. But they didn't. She felt solid, after all...

"You are a salamander, aren't you?" he asked, burying his head in her hair.

"Does it matter?"

It didn't. Not while she was kissing and caressing him that way.

* * *

It was cold outside. And walking home was hard, even if she did not have that... that thing growing inside of her.

For a moment Louella thought about her dream, about the man asking her for the baby.

She did not want the child. It would destroy her and Willie both... but still

"Do not do it, Louella. It is wrong."

She turned. There was a woman standing there in the snow, in a gown from another century.

"Jenny" she thought in a moment of panic But the woman wasn't Jenny. She had a little girl's face, pale and frail with frightened blue eyes.

"Don't believe them. Keep the baby, Louella. Don't give it to them"

"Who are you?"

She vanished. Louella was alone in the cold.

And impatient to get home and warm herself by the fireplace.

* * *

A man for her? It was impossible, Buffy thought bitterly. Who was she kidding? She was too old for that. They all liked young girls.

Why not give it up? Why not get rid of her jeans and count her blessings?

Without meaning to, she glanced at the fireplace. Once, it had seemed that things would change when she looked at it.

The flames lengthened, exploded...

And a man now stood in front of her.

"Buffy, my love." he said.

The scream began and died in her throat. He was so handsome, so beautiful...

He was all that the ever dreamed of in a man.

He could not be real, not him... she had left those dreams behind...

"I am not a dream, dear Buffy. You had to wait long for me, but here I am."

He moved towards her, encircled her in his arms.

His arms seemed thin, unsubstantial. There was smoke behind his eyes...

But then his mouth found hers and she felt the burning inside her...

* * *

Oriana snuggled up to him. He was aware of her doing it and of why, but his old objections to it had vanished. What was there to prevent him? Oriana was willing and he was free. The grudging promise that Iris had given that she might someday return was not binding. And apart from Megan, he had been celibate since returning from Parallel Time. And with Megan you could not call it love, not even an affair. It was a need beyond sexuality for both of them.

But would Oriana be content with what he could give her? Would she want more? At least her lifestyle, always on the road, would make her more willing to accept a casual relationship..

"Do you need something from me tonight?' she asked, point blank.

"Uh? Not that."

"You want to take me to bed."

"Well, I..."

"All the other times, when you bit me, you wanted it. I could tell."

"Well" he knew that he was blushing "you are right you know."

"If you want it tonight, the answer is yes. As it would have been the first time."

"Then... then it is all right with you?"

"Do you think that I keep coming back here just for that old shaman who doesn't want to give me an interview? No, it is you I want."

"But you still want a story."

"I _always_ want a story. But I came back for you. "She moved his hand up so that it touched her face. "Well, are you going to know me in the biblical sense? I know that with you I don't need to worry about birth control. And anyway, I take precautions."

He lifted her head and kissed her on the lips. Gently at first, and then more passionately as her arms closed about him.

* * *

"You can't get a diving expedition in the middle of winter" Delia explained patiently to Derek "And anyway, it is not enough. Put it in the bank so it can draw interest."

"Interest?" Derek said despectively.

"Better than gambling it away, they way you would do."

"I won't" he said mulishly "and I'll be damned if I do anything as dull as... as put money in the bank."

Delia tried to get patient with him. He was street-wise and bright. If he ever learned patience and judgment, the Sheriff Brant better watch out.

"I want to be part of the expedition too." she confessed. "I want to be there when you find the jewels."

"You do?"

"Of course, what's so strange about that?"

* * *

Hallie Stokes stood on the train platform alone, clutching her bag. She hadn't been back to Collinsport for so long...

It seemed so desolate. And a memory of danger lurked there...

It struck her how lonely she was. Uncle Eliot had been her family for many years. Now he was gone...She had other relatives around the country, but had never been close to them...

So all that remained was this invitation of Barnabas' to spend Christmas in Collinsport. In that old house without modern conveniences.

Barnabas Collins... Uncle Eliot had said something about Barnabas once...

She knew that the two of them had been friends, but she couldn't forget the vague feeling of uneasiness she had around him.

"He is special" David had once tried to explain to her.

And he was the only one who had invited her...

David saw her, looking so frail, so lonely at the station. He went to her quickly.

"I know that this isn't much of a welcome" he said, putting his arm around her shoulders "but I am glad to see you."

She smiled at him, a bit forced. "And I am glad to see you, too."

"I am sorry about your uncle."

She smiled at him, a bit forced "I miss him." she said, simply.

"I know how you feel." he carried her bags "Barnabas is expecting you."

She licked her lips. "David... I know that I shouldn't ask you this. After all, he invited me and that was very kind of him. Still..."

"You never felt easy around him." David said, understanding her.

"Yes. And Uncle Eliot said some things about him."

"What kind of things?"

"Nothing bad. But there seemed to be a hidden meaning to his words. Like he was a good friend, but... I could trust him, but... Know what I mean?"

"Yes. I do."

"Can you tell me if it is something I should know?"

David shook his head. "Nothing that could be called a life or death matter. As for the rest, well, I know some of it, but if he does not want to discuss it, neither will I."

They went to the Old House. but the time they reached it the sun had set and Barnabas was there to greet them. And so was Oriana.

Barnabas performed the introductions "Miss Oriana Falchi. Miss Hallie Stokes."

David's hand held Hallie's tenderly. Oriana had a warm feeling seeing them. She was always partial to young love. And was relieved to know that Hallie would not compete with her for Barnabas.

She wondered what Amy had to say about that. She had once been David's girlfriend. On the other hand, Chris would applaud anything that removed David from Amy's life.

Anyway, Amy, Chris, and Sandy had left for a warmer climate. and she could not blame them, considering what the winters were like in Maine.

"Are you Miss Fallaci, the reporter?"

"I am a reporter, yes. But I am not THE Oriana Fallaci. I got a name of my own, even if more modest than hers. It is F.A.L.C.H.I."

Hallie sat down and took off her boots "Is she with your?" she whispered to Barnabas.

"Are you jealous of David, already?" Barnabas was amused. His clumsy attempts at matchmaking were succeeding faster than he had imagined.

"She looks so... so sure of herself... she could have any man he wanted."

"And she wants me now. Don't worry. She's too old for David."

"He's not good enough for her, you mean. He's good enough for me, but that's all."

Evidently, Hallie had an insecurity problem. But insecurity of a different sort than Willie's. More like the one that Will, from Parallel Time had. Artistic Temperament, Inability not to be the center of attention.

And having lost Eliot had not made things easier...

"David is a fine man." Barnabas said softly "Even if I say it."

"How many articles has she published?" Hallie continued "People recognize her... say that she is good."

"You are good at what you do, too. You are a good singer."

She shook her head in disbelief. Oriana had arrived while she was still struggling.

"Maybe you can sing for us." Barnabas offered. "If you want to. I will be giving this party, and I would like my guests to hear some opera singing."

* * *

Buffy and Frank eyed each other.

"You are the one?" he finally asked.

"Yes. I am" she answered "Did Dirk tell you that?"

"It was a woman who told me. But it doesn't matter. Do you know what we have to do?"

She nodded. "She might be difficult to convince."

"But we must do it. Then there is this girl, the one staying at the Old House."

"Hallie Stokes?" But what does she have to do?"

"There is power in her. She isn't aware of it, has never used it. But it can be used for us or against us. It would be easier if we could channel it. If that doesn't work, we should be able to make her go away."

"You know that David is taking drugs again? I found the pills he carries."

"We cannot stop him without alerting Barnabas. Let _her_ deal with the problem. She can do it better than we can."

Buffy nodded. Some part of her protested at what she was doing, plotting with this man, for the benefit of someone whose name she was not allowed to know, betraying Barnabas as if she didn't owe him anything...

And what would happen to Louella?

And on the other hand, this man, Dirk... Or rather this dream she had of this man who had come out of the fire...

"We will change Louella's mind. And you can do it better than I can. But if you can't we'll find another way.

Buffy nodded. Not, it was not a dream. Dirk was real. And he loved her. Loved her as she had always wanted to be loved.

And she would do anything for his sake.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

'

Hallie watched as the snow piled up outside. It always snowed in this part of the country. Whoever said anything poetic about snow must have been cuckoo. What was poetic about freezing to death, being unable to go anywhere... And then the snow melted into a yecchy slush.

As soon as she was able to afford it, she would live in the South. When she was a star...

But she was not so sure of it now. She felt more bent on failure than ever. For some reason, she did not believe she would ever make it. Maybe it was the miserable weather. Maybe it was Oriana, flaunting her own success...

...Maybe it was Barnabas...

Why did he disturb her so? He had been Uncle Eliot's friend. He had invited her for the holidays, had seemed genuinely happy to see her. Why did he seem sinister to her?

And why did she feel threatened by him? Why did she seem to remember something when she was near him, but could never figure out what it was that she remembered?

Or maybe it was that she felt frustrated and wanted to blame someone for her troubles?

Behind her, Buffy smiled slightly. Yes, Hallie felt that something was wrong, but she blamed Barnabas for it. She would be no threat to them, and maybe she would be useful.

Hallie turned brusquely "Miss Harrington, where do you do the laundry?'

"In the Laundromat. I drive there. Do you want to give me your clothes so I can wash them too?"

"Yes... no... that was not what I wanted to ask you."

"And what is it that you want to ask me?"

"You have been working for Barnabas Collins... what kind of man is he?"

"Well, he's got a lot of...quirks. But he's always been kind to me. And he can be quite endearing."

"I would not know... I never felt comfortable with Uncle Eliot's research. ... I feel the same way here as I did when Uncle discussed what he did. I have this feeling that I cannot shake that there is something weird, something dangerous going on."

* * *

She stood between the trees, white and delicate as the falling snow.

A snow princess - that was the first thing that Oriana thought when she saw her - A snow maiden who loved a man of flesh, stayed on too long for his sake, and melted in the spring...

Oriana blinked... this was not fairy tale. The snow maiden was there, no matter how unsubstantial she seemed. She could almost touch her.

"Tell Barnabas" the apparition said "Warn him... tell him that you saw Priscilla."

"Priscilla? Is that your name?"

The snow maiden vanished.

* * *

"Give us this child and you'll be free."

Louella turned, and tried to make herself wake up.

"Give it to us. Give it up. You'll be free and happy. Willie will love you again."

She opened her eyes... She was awake now, but she could still hear their voices.

She got up and walked out of the door, into the snow. Maybe that would clear her head.

And there she heard the other voice.

"Don't do it. Don't let them have it. You'll destroy yourself if you let them."

* * *

Jessica was surprised to see the shopper ahead of her in line.

"You buy here?'" she asked Barnabas

He turned, smiling "I have a lot of presents to make."

She shook her head "It does not go with your image. On second thought, it does... The way you kept worrying about me catching cold..."

He looked embarrassed "So you remember that."

"Yes. I did. And you were real sweet."

In spite of her small stature, she did look somewhat formidable. Barnabas was glad to be in her good graces.

"How's the clinic going? Still have difficulty tracking down your patients?"

"No. Most of them give their right names. But we try to get a good physical description, just in case." she laughed lightly "but to think that you could get VD..."

Barnabas looked nervously around "Please, not so loud."

She laughed again. "They know you can't catch it, do they? Then, it was Quentin who did it."

"Still, I'd rather not discuss it here."

"You are so bashful."

"Yes." he admitted "Jessica, could I invite you and your husband to a party at home? There is this music student, a singer, and she'll probably sing a couple of arias...And then I would like to have you two over and be a proper host for a change."

"All right." Jessica said. "I'll talk to Zeb. I think that we will go."

* * *

"Tell me, honey, am I getting on your nerves?"

"You?'" Louella looked at Willie "no, you haven't "she lied."

"I think I have. Barnabas noticed it and said that I was putting pressure on you."

She laughed, a bit uncomfortably. "Well, you are impatient, but that is understable."

"So that's why you became absent minded.? To shut me off?"

Willie looked so earnest... she felt like confessing to him about the fireplace and the woman in the snow... but she could not swear that they were real. And how could she tell Willie that she was not sure that she wanted this child, his child? Why worry him more?

"I have been a fool." Willie said "It is a wonder that you put up with me."

"Well, you do have your good points."

"It is just that it scares me to be a father. I don't know if I will be able to do it properly."

Louella's heart contracted. Willie himself did not want the child, either.

* * *

She could have sworn that she had seen the woman, Oriana thought. She seemed so real...

But still...it could have been an illusion caused by the snowflakes, shining under the sun.

The logs crackled in the fireplace, making it difficult for her to think.

"Priscilla." she thought "she had spoken, hadn't she? She had asked her to tell Barnabas about Priscilla.

The flames lengthened. Oriana checked on her watch. It was getting late...Barnabas should be coming soon...

She felt herself becoming sleepy, all memory of Priscilla washing away as her eyes closed.

* * *

There was a heavy odor in her room when she went to bed. she did not recall it smelling that way before.

She mentioned this to Buffy who muttered something about the type of wood, and its getting wet, and then hurried off to whatever she had to do.

Hallie laid herself on the bed. It was warm and pleasant. She should be able to relax and enjoy lying under the covers before falling asleep.

But she could not. She felt tense. She kept seeing Barnabas hovering over her, smiling malevolently.

...Just as he had, long ago... when she had met him and he had...

What had he done to her? And when? When she was a child?

But that was not possible. She had not been a child when she had met him that way...

But when?

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

...She was in this huge auditorium. She was giving this concert and they were all waiting to hear her sing.

And he was there, watching her.

She began to sing.

And her voice cracked.

She tried again, but no sound would come from her. There was a knot tightening in her throat.

And Barnabas moved towards her, his eyes shining. His lips parted, and she could see fangs in his mouth, as he had them that time...

"You will never sing again" he said "you will never be a star. All you'll be is a dockside hooker, like you were when I first met you."

She opened her mouth, tried to scream, to prove him wrong.

"It is no use, Maude Browning." he caught her arms and pulled up his lips. "You cannot escape me."

Then he shrieked. He jumped away, screaming in pain.

There was a pillar of fine between the two of them.

"Don't you dare touch her." a woman's voice said "she is under my protection."

The fire, slowly, delicately, molded itself into a woman's figure. A beautiful, blonde woman.

"I will not let him harm you." she said, musically (and her voice reminded Hallie of crackling logs in the fire) "he can't do anything to you."

"Who are you?"

"You are going to be a star. A big star."

Barnabas was gone. So was the auditorium. She was in a small room, its walls covered with red velvet and gleaming copper with scarlet rugs under their feet.

"You will serve me, Hallie." the woman said "you will sing my songs. I need a temple singer. Say that you will do what I ask of you and I will reward you well. Will you serve me?"

Hallie nodded.

The woman shook her head. Her hair, which had been blond in the auditorium was now deep red and fell to her ankles, covering her body completely. "You will serve me when I call on you, when I have need of you. You understand?"

"I do."

"This is the sign of my protection." she showed Hallie a gold scarab in her hand "wear it when it is brought to you."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Think of all you could have, Louella. Think of it. Do you want to lose it? Willie doesn't want this child, either."

"No." Louella said between her teeth "I don't want..."

"Give us the child, then Louella."

"No. I cannot! It isn't right!"

"Let us have it. everything will be all right, you'll see."

* * *

Hallie read, curled up in her chair. That dream of hers... what did it mean?

...Maude Browning. Why did that name stick in her mind?

Barnabas knew, the moment he saw her that she was too tense

The moment had come for him to explain.

"Hallie?" he asked, coming next to her.

She startled, then turned, embarrassed towards him. "I am sorry" she explained "I didn't hear you come."

"It is all right." he sat next to her, noticing how she tensed up further when he came closer.

She licked her lips, becoming paler...the way he had looked in her dreams...

"Your uncle and I were good friends." he began.

"Yes. You were."

"How much did Eliot tell you about me?"

"He said that you were a good friend and that in spite of everything, you could be trusted.

"I see." he paused for a few moments. "did he tell you what 'everything meant?"

"No. He didn't"

Barnabas paused again. "I wish he had. It would make things easier for me that way." he took her hands and looked earnestly into her eyes, apparently not noticing how she flinched a the contact. "but at least you believe that I would not hurt you."

She nodded.

"I don't want to scare you, nor make you uncomfortable in any way. I tell you this because... because I have seen you get tense, and I believe that you sense something about this house and about me. I think that you should know the whole story, specially if you keep coming back here."

He wondered which of them was the most uncomfortable.

"I was very fond of your uncle. I think that he liked me, too. But when it came out about me he took it rather hard. He did not like my fooling him all these years. You see, it fell within his specialty and it hurt his professional pride to realize to whom... to what he had given his friendship without suspecting once..."

"But..."

"You know what your uncle specialty's was?'

"Parapsychology. Real spooky stuff." she shivered for a few seconds, giving him a strange look. "You mean that you... you are involved with spooky stuff."

"I... I am what you would call spooky stuff."

"You are kidding!" she pulled her hands from his and stood up. " What...what are you?"

She was cared...if her dream was true... if it was not just a dream...

"Remember what Eliot said, that I was a good friend? That you could trust me?"

"Yes. I do."

"Will you try to bear it in mind when I tell you my story? I know that you always felt uncomfortable in my presence, but I never gave you reason for it. Do you remember my ever trying to hurt you?"

She smiled weakly "No, you haven't"

"Then sit down and let me tell you about it."

She sat down completely stiff.

"It is a long story, a strange on. And it is true." he began

* * *

"I don't like the way you look" Angelique said.

"Well" Megan got up from the bed and began dressing again. "I look this way most of the time. It is just that you get these ideas about me after we make love."

"What kind of ideas?"

"Protective. You seem to want to make it a permanent relationship."

"And what would be wrong with that?"

Megan looked up "It was not so long ago that I had to explain the same ting to Frank. I need men. And so do you, in a different way. What we have is fun and good for both of us. as long as we keep it a sideline. We try to make it our main relationship and we are headed for disaster."

"Still, it would be nice." Angelique admitted "after all, we get along so well."

"We are friends who every now and then enjoy sex together. No more, no less."

Angelique dressed, not having a retort to Megan's remark. Megan had sharp fangs, that was not the sharpest thing about her.

"Still, you seem worried."

"Not worried, angry."

"Reverend Trask?"

"Yes. He blamed me for Sandy's decision."

"Well, baby, when you consider the trouble Barnabas and I had with previous members of that family, this seems a snap."

"I know. But for some reason it got under my skin. I mean, all that liberal talk of his...I thought that he was for real... But in a pinch he ended up giving me the Jerry Falwell line."

"About Sandy, of course."

"What else?"

"Well, she has several problems still. And Chris may end up caught up in them."

"Then, as always, it will be up to me to pick up the pieces."

* * *

Priscilla...

For some reason the name clung to Oriana's mind as she moved towards the Old House.

But why that name? She hadn't heard it anywhere. It just kept coming to her mind...

She didn't even _know _a Priscilla.

Except for that girl at High School.

But she doubted that Priscilla Nivens had anything to do with it. The name, as it came to her, had pathetic connotations. No one would call Priscilla Nivens pathetic. She spent her time holding court and distributing favors to other girls who were stupid enough to think that she was the greatest thing since salami. No... it could not have been that Priscilla..

The fire was on when she came in.

"Priscilla Nivens." she kept mulling over the name. What had become of her? Probably married young, had now two or three brats who demanded all her time, had grown fat, and her husband cheated on her...

Serve her right, for treating her the way she did. She, Oriana, had been the low man in the totem pole in Wilson High. Despised by Her Highness Priscilla Nivens because she was Italian, Catholic, and she had a funny accent. Well, she wished that Priscilla could see her now.

Yes. It was that Priscilla.

A log cracked in the fireplace, bringing up sparks as it did so. And for a moment, it sounded like laughter.

* * *

Hallie stood in front of the ticket office hugging herself.

She had to get away. She could not stay with Barnabas, not since she knew what hew as.

Maude Browning...Maude Browning. The name kept sounding in her ears. Barnabas had killed Maude Browning. She knew it. She did not know HOW she knew it, but when Barnabas had told his story, it has become clear to her.

She had jumped up, screaming, before he had even finished and ran out of the house. She had this impression of his face, reflecting pain. But she could not be sure of it.

She could not stay here. She could not let him kill her again.

Frank Torrance studied her. She would leave Collinsport now He had to prevent that. SHE had made it clear that Hallie had to remain and serve the Lady.

He could not understand why her. For what needed to be done, he and Buffy should be enough. But maybe there was another reason, a different service that was to be required of her that neither him nor Buffy could provide. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was a singer.

He took the scarab out of his pocket. He had to give it to her and make her accept it.

He moved towards her, almost unobtrusively until he was close enough.

"Miss Hallie Stokes?" she asked.

She jumper away from him, fear in her eyes.

"I do not come from him." Frank said quickly "But from Her."

"Her?"

"The Lady in the Fire. The one who promised to protect you" he pulled out the scarab "do you recognize this?"

Hallie looked at it, pale and trembling. The same one he had seen in her dream... Had it been real, then? All of it? The danger? The promise?"

"You'll be a star" She had said in her dream.

"You have to accept her protection" Frank insisted "He will keep on looking for you, until he destroys you. Even if he does not kill you, you may never sing again.

The fear was in her, too. The fear that she had tried to deny for so long, the one that lay just below the surface.

"It would be a pity if that happened" Frank continued "I have listened to you sing before, and you have a lovely voice. In a couple of years you could be singing in the Met."

The Met...Singing there, where Beverly Sills had sung. Joan Sutherland, Renata Scotto...

"Put it on and you can have all that. Put it on and Barnabas Collins can't touch you."

She took the chain, passed it over her head until the golden scarab hung between her breasts.

"Keep it hidden." Frank instructed her. "Let no one except me or Buffy Harrington see it."

* * *

"It is nice of you to help me bring these in" Louella said to Buffy.

"I know how difficult it is to carry these in your condition."

"You ever had a child?"

"I lost it." Buffy feigned sorrow "I lost both of them."

She told the tale, the one that Dirk had instructed her to tell. The early marriage that had gone sour the moment she had gotten pregnant, since they could not afford the kid. The difficult pregnancy, her husband leaving her, then the miscarriage... being left penniless, having to scramble to make ends meet. Then, when she was starting to get things together a new pregnancy, which had caused her to be fired. More poverty, a winter living on cold sandwiches, another miscarriage, almost bleeding to death this time...

Louella listened, her eyes widening.

"Oh, darling I have upset you. But it won't be that way for you. Willie is a fine man. He's no kid. My husband was just too young, not prepared to be a father. It was just too much responsibility, all of a sudden. Willie is a lot more mature and responsible. And he does want the child."

Buffy watched how Louella nodded. Yes. Willie was all that. But Willie was insecure, and bit childish at times...

And Willie had beaten her. He had gotten over it. But what if it started again? It could happen.

Buffy kept watching her. Her words would bear fruit. Maybe not today, not tomorrow, but they would.

She would give up her child.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Delia crossed the room to where Derek was going over his math.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked belligerently.

"Talk about what?"

"Why you don't want me to be your partner in this?"

Derek lifted his head and looked at her. "It is not your style" he said lamely.

"Not my style, what do you mean? We used to be a team, you and I. I handled Roger for you."

"That was a while ago... before you went straight."

"Straight? What do you mean straight?"

"All of a sudden you have gone respectable. You are no fun anymore."

"Fun? You actually liked it when I tied you to the bed?"

"You were a lot more relaxed then.."

* * *

Willie sat in front of Barnabas' fireplace, cracking his knuckles.

"I know what you are going to say, but still I have the feeling that there is something odd going on with Louella... or maybe it is me. I know that I have been making an ass of myself an blaming it on you."

"Well, it is the first child for you and Louella, so you two will be acting strangely for a while. It is all normal."

"That's what I have been telling myself. Do you think that I am being paranoid again?"

"What's wrong?"

"She seems withdrawn, daydreams a lot, doesn't always pay attention to what I say."

"Seems normal. You must understand that she is going through several physiological changes and those reflect in changes in mood" Barnabas smiled "If you can act like an ass, why can't she be absent minded?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"You are projecting your own insecurities to her, that's all."

Willie nodded and kept looking down. "Do you think that I will be a good father?"

"I don't see why not."

"I am afraid that I will turn out to be like my old man."

"But why? You are not him."

"But I am his son."

Barnabas studied Willie with tenderness. He knew him so well. Always straining hard and every now and then falling flat on his face. Always chasing some wild dreams that most often did not pay up. Basically the same impulse that had driven him to search for hidden jewels.

"Julia gave you a clean bill of health. You don't have more quirks that you can deal with."

"But I will keep on making mistakes."

"_Everybody_ makes mistakes. You will not avoid them, any more than I do. But you will manage. You should stop putting yourself down."

"Hell, I am only a high school dropout and an ex-con."

"You are a lot more than that. You are one of my closest friends. You are the proud owner of your own shop. You managed to push yourself into a higher tax bracket. You are catching up on your education. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Willie laughed "Well, it seems that this time, it is you giving the pep talk."

"I guess so." Barnabas laughed with him. "we do that to each other a lot, don't we?"

"Yes, we do."

"Well, I might take a look at Louella to set your mind at ease. Are you coming to the party I am giving? Hallie decided to stay, and she has agreed to sing."

* * *

The scarab shone as it hung from Hallie's neck. Buffy saw it and frowned.

"Wear it always under your clothes." she admonished her "Barnabas must never know that you have it. or he'll find it easy to take it from you."

Hallie hid it under the clothes "Is this right?"

"Yes."

"Do you wear one, too?"

"No. With me, it is different." Buffy's eyes moistened as she recalled the passionate lovemaking she had experienced the night before, and the nights before that. How was it that you could embrace a man of fire and not be burned? She could not understand it. Neither could Frank, with his fire girl. But she was grateful for it. And she pitied Hallie for she was to be content with a gold scarab when she could have a golden man in her bed.

And Hallie pitied Buffy. To be content with a few furtive caresses in the night when she could have demanded the world at her feet. For how long would her love last? No one held the love of a salamander for long. When that was gone, Buffy would have nothing while she... she would be a star.

"Do I help you with Louella? When she lets us have the child?"

"Maybe... No. I can manage by myself. But maybe Torrance has some errands for you to run. He can't get around as easily as he'd like, with his job. As for the rest, _She_ has other plans for you, once we bring her back."

* * *

It felt cold out there in the snow. But she had to stay. For she had seen the woman there, and it all came back to her.

Oriana strained her eyes. Yes. she had seen her before. She had already talked to her.

And her name was Priscilla... Priscilla Collins. And Barnabas was supposed to know about her.

She _should_ ask Barnabas about her. She should have, days ago. But for some strange reason, she didn't.

The woman was barely more than a child. She had sad eyes, and the grief in them was more than you could expect of a girl to know. They looked so old, so weary...

"Tell him." the woman pleaded "tell him that Laura is returning."

Oriana raced back to the Old House. She would tell him this time. No more excuses to herself.

But as she came in, she moved to the fireplace to warm herself and while the heat melted the snow still on her boots it also melted away her decision... it had only been a hallucination, a mirage. No sense in telling Barnabas about it.

* * *

Louella shivered. Who was that woman she kept seeing day after day, standing immobile against the trees?

She was always there, each time she passed by. And she spoke the same words, always "Don't do it, Louella."

But don't do what? What could that be?"

She thought guiltily of her dreams, of what that man who had come demanding her child.

But those were just dreams. And she knew what caused them. Sometimes she was scared of her own child. She should not. She should have more confidence in herself.

...She was still there, among the trees...

"Don't do it, Louella: she said again.

* * *

Louella was changed, Barnabas thought when he saw her. She looked dreamier, softer. And somewhat tense. Well, that should be Willie's doing. He should have another talk on the subject with him.

"As you see, I keep growing every day."

"You look beautiful" he kissed her. "You know that we have the future Beverly Sills staying with us? She'll be singing later."

Willie and Louella came in to be greeted by Oriana while Barnabas turned to admit Zeb and Jessica King.

"Welcome" he smiled at them "I don't usually jump on my guests and tie them up." he said, apologetically.

"I know you don't" Zeb extended his hand. "And I don't usually pistol-whip helpless people. So why not behave like the civilized people we are?"

"Well, enough of that. " Jessica said with animation. Why don't you show us the house? I have heard quite a bit about it."

"Gladly."

George exchanged glances with Julia. "You know what he's trying to do, don't you?"

"He'll probably be trying to buy his affection or some such." Julia shook her head. "And probably will come in too strong and raise Zeb's hackles. But what can you do? He has to make his own mistakes, over and over again."

"And you know what's behind it." George grimaced "Dave fixed him right, he did. He's missing him. Like I miss him. I can't get over his being gone again, and this time for good. And with him it is worse. I wonder that he'll do next."

"Probably try with you."

George grimaced again. "I don't know... I don't know. I have wanted him for so long...But if he comes to me because he wants Dave again... I don't want him that way. I want him to come looking for me, George Brant, no one else!" he almost shouted "But then." he shrugged "I know this is the only way I can get him."

Julia nodded. "I know what you are going through. I have been there myself."

"It is just grieving. For me, for him, for you. Thank God now it is only that... But it still hurts." tears began forming in George's eyes.. "He was very sparing with demonstrations of affection. Had to, living in the closet... He could only tell me that he loved me in the bedroom, when he was certain that nobody was watching... If he had done it outside, or hugged me, or... anything, it would be easier...perhaps."

Julia nodded again, smiling sadly. "Time is the only cure; Or the only anodyne... "

Barnabas shows Zeb and Jessica the room, letting them admire the objects that he had managed to rescue from the trash heaps.

"This is lovely" Jessica held a porcelain figurine, which against all odds, had survived intact.

"Yes, it is."

"You like it?"

"It is pretty."

"You can have it."

"I couldn't..."

"Yes, you can. Here I barely notice it, while you will enjoy it a lot more."

Jessica agreed, while Zeb looked at Barnabas curiously. He shook his head, and growled softly.

Later they all sat down to listen to Hallie. Hallie gave Barnabas a half-angry, half-defiant look, and put her hand to her breast, where the scarab was, and drew strength from it. Then she stepped into the middle of the room to being her recital.

"Visi d'arte, visi d'amore..."

Hallie's voice was soft, but at the center there was steel, and the poignancy of Tosca's words, sung deceptively without flourish brought painful echoes to those who head them.

No technical firework, no searching for effect. Oriana reflected that it was a song what improved by starkness.

Barnabas gulped, noticing that tears were forming in his eyes...He _was_ a sentimental fool...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

She was still outside, between the trees. She had not moved at all since he had seen her last... If she had seen her at all...

It was a ghost, Louella decided. But it did not seem to mean her harm... and she did not try to follow her house, she remembered now.

It wasn't Jenny. Even if she could not be sure about the face, she dress did not correspond to the period. It was more late eighteenth century.

And there seemed to be no threat. He expression was more of sorrow and pain than of hatred.

She went to her.

"What do you want?' she asked bluntly.

"I want to warn you about your danger, so what happened to me won't happen to you."

"What happened to you?"

"She...she offered me something and I found out too late what she meant."

"She? Who is she?"

There was fear in the girl's face... "I am afraid to say her name... If I say it, she will know I am doing this..."

Louella rubbed her arms. "It is cold here. Can't we talk inside?"

The girl shook her head, more afraid still. "No. I can't go where there is fire. I can't go where She is strong."

Louella shook her head. "Why? What are you afraid of?"

"Don't let Her have your child!" the girls said fiercely "No matter what they promise you, don't give it to them!:

"Nobody has asked..."

"They have and you know them. Tell Barnabas of it. Tell him that you saw Priscilla. He will remember me." now there was hatred in her face. "He was the one who made me turn to _Her_. This would not have happened if it had not been for him. Still, he knows her and can defeat her. He is the one who can free me, and the others."

* * *

"So you saw Louella?" Willie could not keep quiet "What you think of her?'"

"She seems normal." Barnabas said, "but a bit nervous."

"So, you see, there IS something wrong."

"And the something wrong is how you are acting. She is a bit nervous. You are a lot nervous. Look at you. You cannot stay quiet. You fidget, you get up and walk, then sit down again, then chew your fingernails, then rub your face, then scratch yourself, then..."

"So, it is _my_ fault"

"You should learn to relax... I can lend you tapes for that."

* * *

Priscilla... who was she? And why Barnabas?

She should ask Barnabas about it, Louella decided should have told him when this thing started.

But first she had to warm herself. She pulled off her gloves and stood next to the fireplace.

The flames revived as she approached, warming her.

"We can help you, Louella. We can make things right for you and Willie."

It was nice to stand there, warming herself. So much better than going outside in the cold.

She moved to the couch and sat down. She took her knitting and began working on it.

It was a mess... No, it was not... but still it was not what she expected. And knitting was so slow...

"We can make it so that you won't ever need to knit again."

* * *

Zeb didn't lift his head when Barnabas came in. "I am busy" he said dryly "If you want to talk to me you'll have to wait."

"I understand." Barnabas sat down and read the magazines in the room until Zeb was done.

"Well." Zeb pushed himself back. "I guess it is time to talk about it."

"Talk about what?"

"What are you trying to do with Jessica and me?"

"I just wanted to... to apologize for the way I behaved towards you."

Zeb shook his head "We agreed not to have any hard feelings either way."

Barnabas hunched over with embarrassment "I wanted to make sure."

"You were trying to buy our friendship."

"It wasn't that!" Barnabas tried to protest.

"You were." Zeb said implacably "I can tell when someone is trying too hard. If it wasn't for what I know, I'd think that you were a fag trying to put the make on me. But I know that it isn't that, or I would have socked you already. No, it is just that for you being forgiven is not enough. You also want to be loved."

"It... it is not that."

"It is. Look, I am glad I didn't shoot you, after all. But that does not make you automatically my friend. I prefer to make friendships on my own time. I just don't like being pushed. And I don't like your reasons for wanting to be my friend."

"I just thought..."

"Don't interrupt me. I got your number. You blew your chance with Uncle Dave. Well, it was a tragedy for everyone involved, I agree. But you won't make things any better by pretending that I am him, and trying to win my friendship by hook or by crook. I am me, Zeb King, and no one else. And until you get that into your head, it would be better if we didn't see each other for a while."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Julia was nursing a bad cold while waiting for Kenneth to come back from surgery. She saw Barnabas appear in front of her, but was feeling too run down to greet him in a more enthusiastic manner than by lifting her eyebrows and grimacing.

"What's new with you?" she asked a bit surly "And before you say anything, what about making me a hot tea? Herb tea. It unclogs my sinuses beautifully, and I am a much better hostess when my sinuses are unclogged.

Barnabas went into the lunch room and prepared the brew "Wouldn't you rather have coffee?" he asked, facetiously.

"I am not that far gone, yet."

A few seconds later Julia was holding the steaming cup in her hand, and was sipping from it.

"This is good." she commented "I may have to increase your salary."

"I will rather taken it in professional services. Julia, I do have a problem."

"And you want my professional opinion?"

"Yes."

"So Bloody Fool Skinner is not good enough after all."

"I never said that he had all the answers. Only that he got results."

"What kind of analysis do you want? Freudian or Jungian?"

"Just your kind. It works best on me."

"All right, start talking."

"Well..." Barnabas fidgeted. He hated to admit it, but there were times when Julia could make him feel like a six-year old. "It has to do with Zeb."

He explained it to her, how he had invited Zeb and Jessica to the party, what had happened then, and Zeb's reaction a couple of days later.

"He has a point." Julia said. "You are the proverbial fool that rushes where angels fear to tread."

"Was I wrong in inviting them over?"

"It was too soon. We do have to normalize our relationship with them, true, but not in a hurry." She sighed. "I have kept my distance. I am getting my courage to meet them again."

"It makes no sense." Barnabas protested "We are free of it now, aren't we?"

"Yes, but..."

"What's the point of being free if we cannot talk about it? If we cannot act normally with Zeb, if we have to keep worrying about it..

"Why is Zeb so important to you? He is not Dave."

He looked at her hard. "You too believe that?"

"You have been known to pull the same kind of stupid stunt before."

"But this time it is different!"

"If you want someone close to Dave, why not try George?"

"He...he..: " Barnabas blushed " he wants to get too close to me."

"Yes, he does." Julia sighed. "For a long time I believed that homosexuality was a disease, I have learned more tolerance since then. Or let's say that I have learned that I don't know. everything. I know what you need., and George is the only one with the courage to give it to you."

"What do you mean, what I need?"

"You want more than a casual relationship. Much more than what you are getting from Oriana. More than you got from Iris. He may well be the one who is right for you. And" she smiled " this is what Dave wanted for both of you, anyway."

"I can't Julia, not that... I just don't go that way..."

"Don't be so sure."

* * *

So Derek thought that she was not fun anymore. Delia was fuming, wondering how she had reached that point.

Going into therapy was a mistake. Derek wanted her twisted, not straight. And twisted was more fun.

If only she got rid of those blocks Julia Hoffman had put on her, she would be able to pick up a whip and have fun again.

Then, Derek would have her as a partner again, not team up with Barnabas's housekeeper, the one who went in jeans two sizes too small..

She was going to Wyncliffe, to talk with Julia.

* * *

Louella... Louella...

She was floating, weightless, being carried on some sort of waves. But it was not water that she was swimming in. It was more like fire.

Willie looked at her angrily "Get rid of the brat!" he shouted "It will ruin our lives! Get rid of it!"

Then it was Buffy "My husband left me because of the child..."

Then the man of fire "Let us have this child."

There were men and women around her. Young, beautiful, naked... and they danced in the flames.

"You will always be beautiful. You'll be like us. Give us the child."

They encircled her. "We can give you all this. You'll be beautiful. You'll be young. Why waste yourself away, like your mother did?"

And then this one woman stood from among the dancers. She was taller and there was an air of quiet command to her.

"Will you give me this child?" the woman said softly "I will reward you for it."

"Who... who are you?"

"You can call me Laura" the woman said softly "And I will reward you greatly. You only need to give me this child who is ruining your life..."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Dr, Hoffman was not at her desk. Delia sat in to wait for her, preparing the speech she had ready, complaining how her life was much worse thanks to her "help".

But there was something in the air...

She got up and walked. There was a feeling... as if she was being called.

She looked around, guiltily... There was no one looking now.. And Dr. Hoffman was still indisposed...

It was in the papers... She had to dig into the pile of papers, because what was calling her, was in the papers...

She found the whip. Dark coiled leather., with a braided handle...

Her hand closed on it... It was for her, this whip... It was meant for her.

She coiled it quickly, put it in her bag, and decided to leave. She did not need Dr. Hoffman, after all..

* * *

"...Give us your child, Louella..." Laura demanded. "You can be young and beautiful forever, if you give it to us..."

* * *

She stood there, as white as the snow around her.

"Priscilla" the name came to Oriana's lips "Priscilla." she repeated.

She realized that she had seen her before, and had meant to ask Barnabas about her. But she never had. It had slipped her mind the moment she came inside the Old House again.

But the woman was standing there, now. And she knew her name.

She had to know. She walked towards her.

"Priscilla" she said. "Tell me what you want."

Priscilla smiled ever so slightly "I'll tell you my story. My name is Priscilla Collins, and I was once married to Barnabas. Laura killed me, as he now wants to kill Louella. It is because of the child that she carries."

"The child?"

"Laura failed to sacrifice her own child. But her master cannot be denied. She cannot regain human form without a sacrifice. A woman heavy with child. When she failed to have children with Jeremiah Collins, who shunned her bed, she chose me as a sacrifice. When she failed to sacrifice Jamison and Norah, it was a woman called Janet Harkins. Since she failed with David, Louella must be sacrificed now. Without human sacrifice, Laura cannot sustain herself."

"Can we stop her?"

"Not us. But Barnabas can. No." she gestured as Oriana made as if to go. "Don't go. When you stand next to fire, you will forget. And next to fire, she regains her power over me. Stay here until Barnabas comes. He will come. Hold your hand to the place where he has bitten you." This time there was cruelty in her expression "I know what happened to him. He deserved it. But it was too late to help me."

Oriana looked at her, noticing with shock the glee in her eyes. "You hate him. Why?"

"Because none of this would have happened if he would have cherished me the way a husband should cherish his wife. What I had been led to expect when I married him. But he did not. He married me on orders from his father, just like Jeremiah married on orders from his brother. Barnabas never loved me. He was angry at being made to marry, and punished me for it."

Priscilla's eyes were covered with tears as she recounted her lonely life. How alone she was... Joshua barely tolerated her. Once she had brought her dowry with her, he cared little about her. Barnabas treated her with contempt. Naomi blamed Priscilla for whatever was wrong in the marriage. Abigail badgered her daily...

"I was lonely. I was scared. I hurt inside and was not allowed to say it. And then there was her...

_Her_. Laura, Jeremiah's wife. Also neglected by her husband who had no use for women. She could not get with child by him. She had married the wrong Collins, and her time was running out.

But Priscilla was pregnant, hoping against hope that this child would bring Barnabas and her together, and consumed with the knowledge that it might not be enough...

Laura had come to her, offered her friendship, consoled her after each and every one of Barnabas' slights. Then she had offered her a way to gain Barnabas' love.

Laura's offer... It sounded like witchcraft...what would Abigail say if she knew what they were going to do? Yet it seemed the only way for her. So she had gone to Laura, had put her hands over the fire, walked into it...

"But you didn't die that way!" Oriana protested "You died in labor!"

"I died that day. I, and the child inside me. Laura kept the dead body walking a few more days, then let it fall, in what looked like premature labor. But I was dead already, and she had power over me."

* * *

"...Give us our child..."

"Yes... yes. you can have it!"

* * *

Hallie and Frank knelt by the fireplace. Hallie chanted softly to the flames. "Make him sleep" she said. "make his eyelids heavy, make his mind wander."

She thrust her hands into the fire, the flames bending around her hands, caressing them.

Frank could not restrain his awe of her. She was powerful in ways that he could not understand. Yes, he could hold Janet Harkins in his arms, but he would not dare step into the fire itself. But Hallie...

"Make Willie Loomis sleep." Hallie repeated. "Let him not know what will happen tonight in his house."

* * *

Barnabas felt the tug when he woke up, but only vaguely. Trying to locate the source, he wandered across the rooms. The crackling fire in the fireplace somehow made it difficult for him to concentrate.

He stepped into David's room, just as David was putting the pills on his palm.

Barnabas blanched "David!" he knew what pills and David meant. Those were not aspirin...

"It is not what you think." David tried to defend himself "I take them so that I can concentrate for the tests! I can't study without them!"

Barnabas shook his head "How could you?"

* * *

Oriana shivered. It was cold out there. Absentmindedly she rubbed her hands, thinking of the fire waiting for her inside the Old House.

"No!" Priscilla said "I know that it is cold. But this is the only safe place. Keep calling him. He will come to you"

"But he does not seem to listen."

"Laura's doing. Even such as he can be influenced by her. But not wholly. Keep on trying."

* * *

Barnabas paced. How could David? How...?

It was his fault. He should not have allowed him to go to college so soon. Should have kept him around longer for observation. Should have kept the link between them stronger...

He could not stand still. Had to do something. But what? Put David under his control again? That would solve the immediate problem, but that also meant that he would never dare again David to be out of his sight.

Pacing on the carpet solved nothing. Staying inside would solve nothing. And the hunger was rising in him.

Still, he was for some reason reluctant to leave. As if pulled somehow by some unseen force inside the house...

But there was another pull, for the outside...

And he was hungry... and he knew that he should not let his hunger became too great...

He made himself go out.

And as soon as he did, he felt the pull from Oriana,

He went to her.

"Oriana, what is it? Why are you calling me?'

Then he saw Priscilla "You!"

"Yes, it is me, my unloving husband."

The emotions warred in Barnabas's face. Sorrow, guilt, surprise, longing.

"I am sorry." he finally said "I should not have treated you that way."

"Yes. You shouldn't have. You drove me into Laura's arms. she killed me, as she will kill Louella.

"Louella? What does she have to do with you?"

"Listen to her." Oriana said quietly "she'll tell you what's happening and what we can do to stop it."

* * *

He should stop worrying, Willie thought. Should learn to relax. Louella did not need to watch his anxiety attacks.

He should just lie there and relax... And it was easier to do so by watching the flames... watching the flames dance.

Louella looked at him. He was falling asleep fast, just as they promised her. When Buffy came, Willie would be sleeping. He would never know what had happened.

Fifteen minutes later, when Buffy knocked, Willie was fast asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Willie continued sleeping peacefully as Buffy stepped in. Louella felt a pang of regret. He looked so helpless, so vulnerable...

But Willie did not want this child either. It was just pride that made him say he did.

Still.. he would never know what happened a few feet away from him. Under his nose.

Somehow it seemed wrong.

"Louella?" Buffy could see her falter She had to make sure she went through it. "Take off your clothes."

Louella didn't move.

"Take off your clothes." Buffy insisted "You know it has to be done now."

"It... it is right to do it?' she asked.

"You know that it is right." Buffy said with asperity "You don't want to be saddled with the brat, do you?"

"No. I don't want that."

Obediently she undressed, lingering over the buttons, casting nervous glances at Willie, who didn't betray, even by a twitch, any awareness of what was about to happen.

She stood there, naked, her arms covering her abdomen protectively.

Her child. She was going to kill it. She would lie in front of the fireplace, and Buffy would move around her, and the fire would rise, and when it settled down her child would be dead.

...Dead...dead... her child. It was not a thing. It was a baby, and she was going to kill it.

"Well, what are you waiting? You are wasting time."

"It is wrong! We cannot do this!"

"We have to" Buffy was beginning to lose patience. "Stop playing games. Come and lie down."

Louella crossed her hands over her belly "What's going to happen to the baby?"

"You gave up your rights to him. It is ours now."

"No! No!"

Buffy grabbed her. "That's enough!" she said angrily "You knew what was going to happen. Stop the melodramatics."

Buffy pushed her, and Louella fell down in front of the fireplace. "Stop acting like a child. You made a bargain, keep it!"

Louella tried to fight her off, but found that she could not. And then the man of fire was standing over her. He gestured once over her head and she could not move or speak.

In desperation she looked at Willie. He could not help her. He could not even know what was happening.

Buffy knelt by the fire and threw a powder on it, making the flames leap in bright, strange colors.

"Laura" Dirk sang "come to us."

"Laura, daughter of Ra." Buffy echoed "Come to us."

"Come to us, Lady of the Fire."

The flames leapt out of the fireplace. Then they changed shape and... walked.

The flames were men and women, covered to the feet with red, silky hair.

"Laura, Mistress of Fire, Queen of the Salamanders, come. Walk among us again."

"Walk the Earth again."

The salamanders bent down and touched Louella. "Greetings sister who is to be" they chanted as they touched her. There was no pain in their touch.

"Laura."

"Lady of the Fire, who grants us our wishes."

There was another woman in the fireplace. She was like the others, and yet so different...

"Come to us Laura. We are ready for you."

"Laura, our Queen." And they all curtsied to her, one by one.

The woman's lips parted "You have done well, my children. You will be rewarded well." she looked at Louella "Is the sacrifice ready?"

"She is the one, Lady."

"Then bring her to the fire, that she might gladden Ra's heart."

To the fire? Sacrifice? No.. no.. Louella fought as the salamanders lifted her in their arms. They had not told her of this!

But she could not fight them off. And after a gesture by Dirk, she could not scream... She looked at Willie, at Buffy...

Willie slept, and Buffy's eyes fixed adoringly on Dirk, who had slipped his arm around her waist.

There was no hope to escape. She was carried to Laura, who smiled at her..

"You are mine." Laura said. "Do not resist and there will be no pain. And then you will be young and beautiful, like them."

Laura was now standing in the middle of the room, a pillar of fire.

"I will reward you well, Louella, because you will grant me the human body I need to claim David as my mate." She extended her arms, flames extending from her fingertips. "Come to me Louella" she gestured, and the salamanders released Louella, leaving her unsteadily on her feet. " Put your arms around me, Louella. Come to me."

Water splashed them. The blow made Laura back down, as steam rose from where the water touched her.

Louella fell.

And was caught in strong arms. Cold flesh, reassuringly familiar.

"Get away from her!" Laura shouted "She belongs to me! She gave herself to me!"

"You tricked, her didn't you?" Barnabas said without rancor as he used his coat to wrap Louella. "As you tricked Priscilla and the others."

He looked around. Willie was in a deep trance. He recognized Buffy and his heart sank at the betrayal. Then he saw Dirk.

"It is too late for you to interfere." Laura said with coldness "Go away."

"I can't got without her."

He splashed more water around, in a circle around Louella, then gave her a full bottle.

"Use it. The water will keep them away."

He looked out of the window. Oriana would have called the fire department by now.

"What about Willie?" Laura asked "I can burn him. And for him it won't be painless."

"Willie..."

Laura stood in front of Willie, arms extended to form a burning cross.

"You can't get him unless you give her to me."

Barnabas twisted, gritting his teeth. To protect Willie, he would have to abandon Louella. And the bottle of water could not protect her against Buffy.

"Which one is it going to be? Him or her? You can't save them both."

A snowball crashed through the window, hitting Laura, melting into water inside her...

Oriana stood outside the window, more snowballs in her hand. She dared not come inside and fall prey to Laura's powers, but she could hurl frozen water at her.

"Buffy! Stop her!"

Buffy ran outside. There was a sound of something being struck, then a scream. Buffy's

It was an old trick, putting stones in snowballs, and Oriana had remembered it. Buffy was now on her knees, holding her broken arm.

It was his move now.

"Stay here" he ordered Louella "they won't touch you when you have the water. I am going for Willie"

The pillar was a cross again, He could not look into it...

But he could dive blindly through it, reach for Willie and bring him back. It would be difficult, but it could be done.

Louella stood back, clutching the bottle to her breast.

"Hold on to it. And be ready to throw some on me when I come back.

He jumped and fell through the fire.

The pain tore at him. Not only because it was fire... He had, for the first time the curse had been on him, moved towards a cross, not away from it.

He now held Willie. The pain was worth it, for his sake. He lifted him to his feet.

The cross had lengthened, almost becoming a wall of fire. the try to jump through it again, while holding on to Willie..

Two more snowballs crashed through. That was enough. He jumped back, and was by Louella's side.

"Willie"! Louella said. "Is he all right?"

"Yes. He is." he looked around. The room was burning, but the door was not so far away. They could make it, the three of them.

"Hold his other arm" he instructed her. "We are going to go for the door. One. And two. And three!"

There had been the beginning of pain as they jumped closer to the fire, the hiss of steam as more water fell, and then the coldness of the snow.

And the fire siren coming towards them.

Buffy looked stunned at them. Hurt, defeated. she was in pain from her broken arm. And Dirk had not followed her...

Louella was shivering now. She was naked, and had touched the snow. He wrapped his coat more tightly about her. Oriana took off her coat and wrapped it around her too. Would that be enough? And Willie was on the frozen ground..

The firemen better get there quick before they caught pneumonia...

And they could not take them to the Old House, with its candles and fireplaces, either...

The fire truck siren told them that help had arrived.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"David we need to talk" Barnabas said grimly to David, as he had him and Hallie brought to the sheriff's office.

David was surly and scared "It is about the pills? I explained..."

"I know the real reason why you take them."

"No, you could not possibly know."

"I met your mother."

"My mother is dead. I saw he die in the burning shack."

"She's not dead. She's a phoenix. She is a being whose power comes from fire. She's been roaming the Earth for longer than you or I can realize. She always comes back, marries someone, has children by him, then goes up in flames, taking her children with her. She would have taken your that way if Vicky had not gotten you out of the shack."

David went white. "Then... then it is real.. They are not dreams..."

"Very likely they are not."

"But that means... David's face had gone even paler, it was just a frightened mask " She wants me. But you don't know what for. She...she wants me to be... she wants to.."

"She wants you to be her mate." As son and grandson of a phoenix, the heritage was strong in him, and that made him very desirable to Laura.

"My own mother! She wants me for this! And she is not human... If she is not, what am I?"

Barnabas understood David's misery, wished he could find a way to ease it.

"And that's why you got involved with drugs, to keep her away."

"Yes. I knew that if my body was not... clean, she could not take me."

And when the drug was removed, the werewolf curse had provided uncleanness enough. And then the bond created when Barnabas had bitten him had also served to keep Laura away.

The werewolf curse gone, his bond to Barnabas broken, without drugs, he had found Laura waiting for him. As she had always been, would always be.

"It is my fault." Barnabas said "Julia was right about getting to the root of your problem a year ago. I should have supported her on that."

"It is too late, anyway. I have two choices. Drugs or... or bed my own mother."

"Neither."

"I imagine that you can keep on biting me for as long as you live. Until she has you killed. One day the Old House will burn, and you with it."

"I will chance it. I am going to fight her on behalf of Louella and her child. I might as well fight her over you. Give me your wrist.

David hesitated "I am still on drugs, and you are sensitized."

"So I'll ask Julia to give me something for it. David, I don't want you one more single day on the stuff. Give me your wrist."

* * *

"Better not make a habit of this." George's smile belied his grumpiness. "this is a jail, not a maternity ward."

Willie agreed. "It was Barnabas' idea. I don't like being here."

"Too much like old times?" George could not resist the jab.

"I don't want my kid to be born behind bars!"

"It won't be. Barnabas said that in a couple of days he'll have made Chris' place safe enough for you to move there.

"Why there?" Louella asked.

"He needed a place that could be heated without fireplaces. That left his own place out, and the best he could do in short notice was Chris'. Well, make yourselves at home. And if you don't like the food, you can bang the cup against the bars."

* * *

Fixing up Chris' place so that it could be safely heated had turned to be a more formidable project that Barnabas had envisioned.

"It looks very warm." Oriana commented.

"It should be. Now I only need to put all those protective charms that Angelique gave me."

"This should make the place safe enough."

He grimaced at that "I do not know what is 'enough' where Laura is concerned."

"You defeated her once."

"Not by myself alone. And she was in human form, then. I wonder... I wonder if I will be enough to stop her. I wonder what I should do."

"You are not alone. Angelique will help you in any way she can. And Priscilla will tell you what you need to do.:"

"Yes. She did tell me something about that." he was unhappy "she said that Julia would have to get the answer out of David. That neither David, nor Louella, nor Willie, nor Julia should be allowed out where they could be reached by Laura's agents. You and Hallie could stay away, but never come inside. We could not trust anyone who was not locked up with us. Hallie says that she wants to leave town. I don't blame her. What about you?"

"I want to stay with you."

He frowned "You don't have to. It will get quite crowded in here. Everybody will be getting on everybody else's nerves. And it could be very dangerous."

"I want to see this through. If you are in it, I am in it..."

"But it is different with me. David is family. And Willie..."

"Willie is even more than that."

"Yes. If it wasn't for him I'd still be chained in that coffin, waiting for something to happen. And I treated him so badly... He renovated the Old House all by himself. You know that?"

"And that's why you insisted in doing all the work here all by yourself?

"Yes. This time I want to be the one who did all the work. All he has to do is move in. But, of course, what he will do is fix everything I did wrong."

"Well, I am not as close as David or Willie as you are. But I still want to stay. I want to spend New Year's Eve with you."


End file.
